Business insights designed with the busy CEO in mind.

Authors John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen identify five habits of mind that allow self-made billionaires to create value on a massive scale—habits that are in direct conflict with the traits and practices most businesses value and promote in their employees.

Ever wonder why some companies consistently deliver while others disappoint? Faced with the same market, stocked with similar talent, one organization flourishes, while the other flounders. By understanding what makes your organization tick and where there might be breakdowns to address, you and your employees can truly deliver on your strategic intent.

What do investors think about sustainability? Are they incorporating environmental and social issues into investment practices and strategies, and will they in the future? We asked investors about these issues to learn more about their perspectives.

Investors have been showing increased interest in the correlations between financial performance and sustainability factors like resource scarcity, environmental performance and corporate governance when assessing a company’s future risk and growth opportunities. Is your company ready to respond? This 10Minutes highlights insights and benefits companies can glean into these issues by integrating their thinking to develop a better understanding of impacts to their businesses, allowing them to tell a more holistic value creation story.

Data protection and privacy is an urgent issue for both consumers and businesses. As customers increasingly worry whether their personal information is secure and used appropriately, companies are also concerned about protecting data and their brand. This 10Minutes highlights the importance of viewing consumer privacy from more than just a compliance lens and developing a strategy and action plan that will help businesses lead on data privacy by building customer trust and enhancing their brand.

Businesses depend on service providers to handle confidential data, run essential business processes, and manage critical technology. This can leave businesses vulnerable to service provider breakdowns. The result can be the providers’ clients violating regulations and even losing customer trust. Yet many businesses may know less than they realize about their service providers’ controls. This 10Minutes discusses how SOC 2 and SOC 3 reports can give businesses the picture they need to have solid confidence in their service providers.

It’s an opportunity hidden in plain sight. In 10Minutes on transforming the tax function, we discuss how the tax function is often overlooked as an area for improvement, unlike more obvious choices such as supply chain or business services. However, shining a light on the tax group can reveal untapped opportunities where changes in technology, process, people, and data can lead to benefits for the broader business.

New research shows that high-performing supply chains can achieve sales and revenue growth while managing costs. That sounds like a tall order, but there are things you can do now to manage your supply chain as a strategic asset to boost performance and profitability. This 10Minutes highlights how the supply chain can move your business strategy forward and set you apart from the competition.

What do companies and investors think about climate change? Results from the Carbon Disclosure Project point to an increased focus on embedding sustainability into the business, measuring the results, and taking a holistic approach to business strategy and operations.

Pharmaceutical companies stand ready to be tested in a world where a drug’s success is more closely tied to its performance. The challenges mount with competition from generics and growing pressure to reduce costs. Now, insurers and integrated providers are driven by models that reward health outcomes and cost savings. For success, drug makers are exploring real-world evidence, new payment models, and the right partnerships.

Whistleblower reform is having significant impact. The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower has one full year of operation under its belt, and with it 3,001 tips and two awards to date. Leading companies are looking closely at the Office’s first-year report and drawing lessons for building stronger ethics and compliance programs. They’re also considering what it takes to create a highly ethical culture. This 10Minutes highlights the importance of having an ethical culture at the workplace.

What are the most critical economic, financial, and operational risks facing insurance companies in the US? Insurance company executives shared their responses in the 2013 edition of Insurance Banana Skins, conducted by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI) and sponsored by PwC.

Consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies, retailers, and their business partners often tout the ways they put customers at the center of their strategies. But while many companies do a good job of understanding their customers, perhaps not as many create demand by coordinating across marketing, sales, and innovation—functions and activities that now encompass the demand chain. This 10Minutes explores ways companies can capitalize on knowing their customer with demand functions pulling in the same direction.

This 10Minutes discusses why cybersecurity is more than an IT challenge—it’s a business imperative. New technologies, well-funded and determined adversaries, and interconnected business ecosystems have combined to increase your company’s exposure to cyberattacks. Critical digital assets are being targeted and the potential impact to your business has never been greater. In order to sufficiently protect the business, future cash flows, and shareholder value, your approach to cybersecurity must keep pace.

This issue of the Technology Forecast examines the impact of Internet of Things trends on businesses and the IT organization. It analyzes how businesses now have the ability to continue the relationship with customers after the sales transaction by helping them achieve the goals for which they buy the products.

What does a customer-centered organization look like? What investments are needed to take you there, and what might that journey look like? This 10Minutes discusses these questions and how companies who focus on creating a customer-centered organization may reap real dividends.

This edition of To the point: Current issues for boards of directors, reviews guidance from the SEC and DOJ about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and policy updates from the ISS on executive compensation, board response to proposals with majority shareholder support, hedging of company stock, and what directors should know about data security and cyberattacks.

Volatility has become a fact of life in today’s business landscape. Yet, after years of global expansion, many companies’ supply chains are brittle, unable to respond to frequent fluctuations in demand and supply. This 10Minutes explores strategies companies can deploy to make their supply chains more agile and adaptable.

Industrial manufacturers are focusing on simplification and business transformation. This briefing reviews areas of focus, challenges, and business strategic initiatives for the industrial manufacturing sector in the coming year.

In 2013, company leaders are looking for value creation from their operations. To achieve this goal, organizations are moving beyond shared services and outsourcing to a Global Business Services (GBS) model. GBS helps provide those intangibles by focusing on customer needs and business strategy first and foremost.

For non-financial services companies, regulations introduced by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and Basel III will result in significant changes to the derivatives market. Every aspect of a corporation using derivative to manage risk will ultimately be affected—from risk strategies and corporate funding to operations and accounting. This 10Minutes provides insight on the impacts of new regulation on corporate entities and what those entities need to do now in order to meet impending reform deadlines and ensure they're well equipped to manage increased costs and compliance responsibilities.

As companies face escalating risks related to water, these new guidelines and publication from the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate provide examples and tools for assessing water risks and opportunities, developing a corporate water profile, and better water management strategies and solutions.

The role of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) is evolving based on input from CSOs in 25 leading sustainability companies. The research identifies trends on how companies organize sustainability, the work agenda, key success factors, and the challenges ahead.

Setting sustainability goals are essential to a company’s sustainability strategy but they don’t always drive the change that’s needed. PwC reviewed goals set by 126 companies identified as top sustainability performers and presents and analysis and implications for setting effective sustainability goals.

Talent continues to top the list of executive concerns. Company leaders are focusing on how talent can help them achieve the following four strategic priorities: power growth, realize ROI, manage risk, and enable transformation.

Signs point to a potential surge in domestic manufacturing, and US companies are carefully watching seven key factors that are impacting the trend. They also need to consider what a potential move or expansion of manufacturing facilities to the US could mean for all aspects of their business.

Retailing 2020: Winning in a polarized world identifies economic drivers that will shape the future US retail landscape and success factors winning retailers and suppliers will likely need to manage to drive growth in the retail landscape of 2020.

As Europe continues to grapple with sovereign debt problems, austerity measures, and recession, the Eurozone is changing and will likely emerge from the ongoing crisis looking quite different from the one we know today. Because the world is so interconnected, virtually every company will be affected and needs to figure out the impact on their companies worldwide - from strategy and operations to execution - and start preparing now.

This annual publication focuses on the critical governance issues directors and senior executives face, offering information, insights, and practical guidance to help directors meet the demands of their role and enrich boardroom discussions.

The 2011 edition of Current developments for directors includes a section on factors that are influencing companies' growth plans. Also discussed are how global trends are affecting companies' operations and international expansion opportunities and covers key developments in regulatory reform, financial reporting, and tax reform.

The key issues that stand out in 2010 for directors include business challenges given the state of the economy, the impact of global tax trends, financial reporting and regulatory developments, major ongoing legislative issues, and a special focus on government involvement in business.

In this edition of 10Minutes we talk to leading edge companies about what is driving new mobility patterns and their current talent mobility practices, both from a short and long-term strategy perspective.

Audit committees, management, and auditors work together to meet the information needs of the capital markets and to ensure quality audits and financial reporting. The leading practices in this 10Minutes may help audit committees continue to improve their oversight of auditors and management, thereby enhancing the quality of audits and financial reporting.

Increasing US exports may be crucial to the resolution of global economic imbalances and the ability of US firms to capitalize on the rise of emerging economies. But US firms are struggling to extend their domestic competitiveness to export markets. Executives are looking to improve education and regulation to change that dynamic.

From the education of global talent pools, to national immigration policies, regulation and international intellectual property protections, the public policy issues on the new innovation landscape are abundant and complex.

Social technology offers considerable promise, but CIOs and business units are struggling to figure out how to use it effectively. A key reason is that most social media outside the enterprise is just pure communication. Making the same use of these tools inside the enterprise only imposes more channels on already overwhelmed staff. What alternatives exist to help alleviate communications overload?

Mention social technology or social networking, and most people think of consumer-driven applications such as Twitter or Facebook. But some organizations realize that Facebook, Twitter, and their secured equivalents inside the enterprise are just a catalyst for deeper changes that must be made to collaboration tools and methods. So what are the changes companies need to make to improve things?

No longer viewed as a strictly consumer phenomenon, smart devices enabled by wireless data networks are getting down to business. Companies operating within all kinds of value chains are embracing them to improve processes, enhance collaboration, and reduce costs. But those benefits are only the beginning. Where do the real payoffs come from for companies using them?

While there’s still a great deal of uncertainty around the specifics of healthcare reform, one thing’s clear: The healthcare industry in the US will never be the same. And 2011 is shaping up to be a makeover year for healthcare providers, health insurers, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, and employers. But what are the most significant issues in play? A recent report identifies six.

By helping create jobs in the private sector and by investing in infrastructure, governments can help create an environment conducive for growth. In fact, almost half of CEOs surveyed say that improving the country’s infrastructure and fostering a skilled workforce should be government’s top priorities. But how can CEOs enter strategic and collaborative relationships with governments to pursue their own growth agendas?